When a potential acquirer calls, the founder's default mode should be information gathering, not pitching. By asking strategic questions ("Who else are you talking to?", "What are your goals?"), founders can extract valuable competitive intelligence about the market and the larger company’s plans, regardless of whether a deal happens.
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Use one-on-one breakout meetings to gather intel you can't get in a group setting. Ask directly about competitors, pricing, and evaluation status. The private, trusted environment makes stakeholders more likely to share candid details, effectively turning them into your internal informant on the deal.
Act as a strategic partner, not a vendor, by analyzing a prospect's annual reports, 10Ks, and shareholder letters. Use this research to inform them about strategic risks or business issues they haven't considered, immediately differentiating you from competitors who just ask basic discovery questions.
To vet potential investors or acquirers, founders should ask them to articulate their vision for the startup's next five years. Hearing their story told through the buyer's eyes reveals the depth of their strategic thinking and helps assess whether their vision aligns with the founder's, ensuring a better post-transaction fit.
To truly understand a prospect's decision-making process, ask for more than you expect to get, such as requesting to be part of their internal evaluation meeting. Even a "no" often prompts them to reveal more about their process, criteria, and stakeholders than a standard discovery question would.
Leverage AI to conduct comprehensive research on a prospect's company, industry, and the specific individuals you're meeting. This allows you to bypass basic discovery questions and dive into more relevant, informed conversations, making the sales call more efficient and valuable for the customer.
A robust M&A strategy isn't built in a vacuum. Snowflake's CorpDev team continuously gathers intelligence from three sources: VCs (capital flow), entrepreneurs (innovation), and internal product leaders (strategic needs). This triangulation allows them to form a holistic and actionable market view.
Instead of asking standard discovery questions, top performers pose strategic questions that require joint exploration. This shifts the dynamic from a sales pitch to a collaborative problem-solving session, creating a deeper partnership and revealing unforeseen opportunities that standard questions would miss.
Curiosity is a long-term strategy, not a one-time tactic. By consistently asking curious questions across multiple interactions, you can identify a client's evolving business patterns and trajectory. This deep understanding allows you to anticipate needs and transform your role from a transactional vendor to a trusted strategic partner.
Before an LOI, share your high-level vision, then have the target's founders pitch back their own 6- and 12-month post-acquisition roadmap. This pre-commitment exercise reveals true alignment and integration potential far more effectively than traditional diligence, creating a joint vision early on.
To build immediate trust and demonstrate value, QED partners engage with founders by simulating a board-level conversation from the first meeting. This "pretend I'm your investor" approach showcases their expertise and builds rapport, proving their founder-friendliness rather than just promising it.
